Waste management service provider Remondis has commenced its bulky waste collection service in Maitland, which will operate for a trial period of 12 months. Council has, for many years, operated a tip voucher system whereby each household is provided with a tip voucher every year, which allows them to dispose of up to 400 kilograms of waste at Mount Vincent Waste Management Centre. Currently around half of the vouchers are used every year. Council understands that there are residents within the community that, for a variety of reasons, are unable to use their voucher. As such, council has facilitated an on-call service whereby Remondis will collect the bulky waste, redeem the household's voucher, and transport the waste to Mount Vincent at a cost agreed upon by the resident and Remondis. Council made the decision to trial this approach for 12 months to assess the suitability, community need and performance of the service. At the end of the 12 months council will assess the data collected and may use this to determine what form of service if any, might be needed moving forward. Council's Group Manager Planning and Environment Matt Prendergast said it is important that the community understands that none of these services are free. "The current voucher system that council and other councils have in place as well as the annual kerbside collections that other councils operate, are not free and come at a cost to the community," Mr Prendergast said. "This trial approach with Remondis is essentially a user pay system, rather than a service that is paid for by the whole community, who may not need or want such a service. "The overall philosophy of Maitland City Council is to minimise waste and encourage people to re-use, re-purpose and recycle." Council also runs a number of other free waste services including Mattress Musters, Drum Muster, Household Chemical CleanOut and free problem waste disposal at the Community Recycling Centre. For more information about bulky waste in Maitland visit maitland.nsw.gov.au/bulky-waste

Remondis has commenced its bulky waste collection service in Maitland

Council has, for many years, operated a tip voucher system whereby each household is provided with a tip voucher every year, which allows them to dispose of up to 400 kilograms of waste at Mount Vincent Waste Management Centre.

Currently around half of the vouchers are used every year.

Council understands that there are residents within the community that, for a variety of reasons, are unable to use their voucher.

As such, council has facilitated an on-call service whereby Remondis will collect the bulky waste, redeem the household's voucher, and transport the waste to Mount Vincent at a cost agreed upon by the resident and Remondis.

Council made the decision to trial this approach for 12 months to assess the suitability, community need and performance of the service.

At the end of the 12 months council will assess the data collected and may use this to determine what form of service if any, might be needed moving forward.

Council's Group Manager Planning and Environment Matt Prendergast said it is important that the community understands that none of these services are free.

"The current voucher system that council and other councils have in place as well as the annual kerbside collections that other councils operate, are not free and come at a cost to the community," Mr Prendergast said.

"This trial approach with Remondis is essentially a user pay system, rather than a service that is paid for by the whole community, who may not need or want such a service.

"The overall philosophy of Maitland City Council is to minimise waste and encourage people to re-use, re-purpose and recycle."

Council also runs a number of other free waste services including Mattress Musters, Drum Muster, Household Chemical CleanOut and free problem waste disposal at the Community Recycling Centre.